Site Mobile Navigation

Yankees’ Wang, a Reluctant Spectator, Is Facing a Hazy Future

ANAHEIM, Calif. — As the Yankees roll through the playoffs, Chien-Ming Wang has been a conflicted spectator. Wang made four playoff starts for the Yankees from 2005 through 2007, when they were bounced each year. Now he is standing by as they succeed without him.

“Everything,” Wang said, describing his emotions. “It’s exciting, and yet a different feel.”

Wang has traveled with the Yankees this postseason, wearing his uniform and going through pregame drills. But Wang cannot pitch. He injured his shoulder against the Toronto Blue Jays on July 4.

“After 10 minutes, it was fine, no problems,” Wang said. “But I took two weeks off and threw again, and I still felt the pain.”

Wang had surgery in Birmingham, Ala., on July 29, a discouraging end to a season that produced a 1-6 record and a 6.94 earned run average. He said he was still two months from starting a throwing program and hoped to be ready to pitch by May.

Wang said he had an appointment to see Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham early next month, then he would fly home to Taiwan. He does not know if the Yankees will tender him a contract or let him enter free agency, when they could theoretically sign him for a smaller guarantee. “Nothing’s sure,” Wang said.

SCHEDULE CONCERNS When Joe Girardi was playing for the Yankees, there were fewer off-days built into the postseason. But for the third year in a row, there was a scheduled day off between Games 4 and 5 of the League Championship Series, prolonging the schedule.

“I think there’s good and bad to both sides,” said Girardi, now the Yankees’ manager. “Players like to play, and sometimes it seems a long time between playing games, or it seems like we’ve been in California for a week and a half. But there’s also a benefit. It has allowed us to use our bullpen the way we wanted to, because we could go with three starters. It’s been extremely beneficial the way we’ve been able to use our pitchers.”

The first game of the World Series is scheduled for Wednesday, the latest start in baseball history. But the World Series follows a slightly different format than the L.C.S. because Games 3 through 5 are played on successive dates, without the extra off day.

BONDS VS. RODRIGUEZ Alex Rodriguez’s standout postseason, after years of struggling in October, has called to mind Barry Bonds’s similar ascension in 2002. But Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, who faced Bonds’s Giants in the 2002 World Series, cited an important difference.

Scioscia ordered an intentional walk of Rodriguez once in the first four games of the A.L.C.S. In the seven-game 2002 World Series, he ordered Bonds walked seven times, including three times in Game 4 alone.

Photo

The Yankees coach Tony Pena, left, said he sees himself in Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz, who also extends his right leg to get low to the ground.Credit
Craig Jones, via Allsport, via Getty Images, Jeff Gross/Getty Images

“There’s a huge difference in what we’re doing right now in the lineup we’re facing, as opposed to the lineup we were facing in ’02 with Barry Bonds in it,” Scioscia said. “I think the Giants had a terrific club, but their offensive lineup then was nowhere near the depth that we’re facing now, with the Yankees. So it’s not about controlling one guy. We have to make pitches all the way through the lineup.”

COPYING A CATCHING STYLE Tony Pena says he recognizes a little of himself when he watches Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz on television. Pena, the Yankees’ bench coach, caught 1,950 games in an 18-year career, often with his right leg extended off to the side, instead of in a crouch. Ruiz often catches the same way.

“It keeps you down so low, the pitcher has to throw the ball down,” Pena said.

Only four catchers — Ivan Rodriguez, Carlton Fisk, Bob Boone and Gary Carter — caught more games than Pena, who said his style contributed to his longevity.

“I’ve been lucky; I never had any knee problems,” Pena said. “But not everybody can do it that way. You have to be flexible to get up, because you have to get up quick.”

PHILLIES ‘TEAM TO BEAT’ Joe Girardi has exchanged text messages with Joe Torre during the postseason, but he said he did not contact him after Torre’s Dodgers were eliminated by the Phillies on Wednesday night. Girardi watched the game from his hotel room and said he tried to watch as a fan.

“You watch the strategy of what they’re doing, but I don’t get caught up with scouting the other team,” Girardi said, adding of the Phillies, “You always say that until you knock them off, they’re the champs and they’re the team to beat.”

A version of this article appears in print on October 23, 2009, on page B12 of the New York edition with the headline: Yankees’ Wang, a Reluctant Spectator, Is Facing a Hazy Future. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe